Sunday, July 24, 2011

A afternoon in London with the School's History trip.


I started the morning with Mum going to Watford for a look around.  The mall there was large and the town was very different to here in Hemel.  A lot more modern and newer, I am guessing the mall there was built in the 90's and was very busy, but then again it is the first day of the school holidays here.  After a few hours looking around, Mum and I purchasing shoes, she headed back to Hemel, while I walked down the High Street to Watford High Street station and took the Overground into London.  I have never been on the Overground before, very nice and reminded me of the trains in Melbourne, I am guessing these trains has been done up or renewed for the games next year.


Once I arrived in Euston I took the Northern line to London Bridge and walked across the Thames and got some nice shots of HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge.


Once I got a few shots of Tower Bridge I had about an hour before I needed to meet up with the group from work.  So I decided to walk along the Thames for a wonder and a bit to eat.  While trying to find a spot for some food I came across "The Monument" this is here to commemorate the great fire of London in 1666






After taking a few photos and generally getting a feel for the area I found a lovely pub and had a bit of a late lunch.


Once I had finished lunch I headed towards The Tower of London as I was lucky enough to be meeting up with the School's history trip.  They were finishing off their day with a cruise along the Thames from The Tower of London to the London Eye, and then a trip on the London Eye.  I was very lucky to be invited along for the afternoon.


It was great to catch up with everyone, they where looking pretty tired after 3 weeks away and I thinking they are looking forward to heading home tomorrow, with a spot of shopping in London before heading to their flight tomorrow night.
The boat takes some 500 people so fitting some 80+ of us on wasn't an issue at all.  Before we even got on the boat we were lucky enough to witness them opening the bridge on Tower Bridge, I had never seen this before.




The trip along the Thames was great, always a good way to see London, and I love the views you get to see.  It took around 40 mins I think and well worth the trip.


We arrived on the Houses of Parliament side of the Thames so had a wee walk across the Thames towards the London Eye.  We all got together in a group went over what was going to happen and then we were off to see the 4D movie on the Eye, by the way if you have to pay for this, don't bother.  Once this was over we headed for the real thing.  The queue was pretty quick taking less than 20 mines before we were in a pod and on our way.  The views from the top were just great and I could have taken 100's of shots, I enjoyed the views of the Houses of Parliament the most



I enjoyed the fact that they don't over fill the pods and you have enough room to all sit if you wish and move about the pod without getting in everyone way.  Just a really nice experience.


From here I had to head back to Hemel, so it was a quick walk back to Waterloo, then on the Northern line to Euston, when I arrived I found that I only had a 10 min wait before an express train to Hemel Hampstead left, just enough time to get a ticket, and a drink before hopping on the train.  The trip from Euston to Hemel only took 25 mins at most with only one stop on the way.


A fun day out, doing things I haven't done before and meeting up with friends is always great.  And ending off the day with Bertie and Sue is always great, what fun they are!

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